A common type of article carrier often used to package twelve cans of beverage is the sleeve-type carrier. This is typically a paperboard package which completely encloses the cans inside and which has two hand openings in the top panel extending along the length of the package. The openings are located in the central part of the package and are spaced from each other to form a strap or handle portion between them. The carrier is formed from a generally rectangular production blank which is folded and glued by the blank manufacturer to form the top, bottom and side panels. It is shipped in collapsed form to the bottler who opens the semi-formed blank into its sleeve shape, inserts the cans and completes the folding and gluing operation to form the end panels.
Although this standard type of carrier is widely used, it nevertheless has certain drawbacks. The high concentration of stresses at the handle openings has resulted in the use of relatively thick paperboard. This is more expensive than the stock which would be used if it were not for the need to combat these high stress points. Further, the suitcase type of handle described above requires the thumb and fingers of the hand to hold the carrier in a manner that becomes tiring and tends to cut into the user's hand. For these reasons it would be desirable to have a stronger, more convenient handle design for lifting a sleeve-type carrier which, however, does not interfere with the current practice of producing the production blank from a unitary generally rectangular sheet of paperboard.
One way of overcoming some of the problems mentioned above is to abandon the suitcase type handle in favor of a single handle opening extending transversely of the folds connecting the side panels of the carrier to the top panel. The handle opening would thus be at right angles to the direction in which the openings of the suitcase type handle extend. With this arrangement a person need merely insert his fingers into the opening and easily lift and carry the package, the arms and hands being held in a more natural attitude than when lifting and carrying a package by means of a suitcase type handle.
A handle design of this general concept is not new. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,718,301, issued to F. D. Palmer, discloses a beverage can package which incorporates a transversely extending opening in which the fingers of one hand may be inserted to enable a person to lift and carry the package. The handle opening, prior to being used, is covered by a flap or tab which is connected at one end to the top panel of the carrier by a scored hinge line. The opposite end of the tab is connected to the top panel only by small widely spaced connecting portions so that when a person presses his fingers against the tab, the connecting portions will break away from the top panel and the tab will fold down about the hinge line. In addition to this arrangement, the tab contains an interrupted cut line which is adapted to be broken by slight finger pressure and which extends parallel to the hinge line, dividing the tab in two. When the user pushes against the tab, it folds down about the hinge line, and the portion of the tab bounded by the free tab end and the interrupted cut line is broken off by the finger pressure exerted against it, allowing the thus shortened tab to clear the cans inside the carrier as it is folded back up against the underside of the top panel.
Although a package incorporating the Palmer handle design would be simpler to lift than one incorporating the more conventional suitcase type handle, the Palmer handle has no provision against the lifting stresses which would concentrate at the ends of the handle. The paperboard used to make the carrier would have to be relatively thick and strong to resist the lifting stresses and the carrier accordingly would be relatively expensive to produce. The Palmer arrangement would therefore not overcome all the problems delineated above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,078, issued to D. P. Dutcher et al, also discloses a beverage can package which incorporates a transverse handle opening. Stress relief apertures are provided in the upper portions of the side panels near the top panel and are connected to the top panel by slits. The handle opening has a foldably connected tab which covers only a portion of the opening. This arrangement provides some measure of protection against lifting stresses due to the presence of the slits and apertures in the upper portions of the side panels, but not to the degree desired in order to use paperboard of low caliper.
Another design of a prior art transverse handle opening is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, which depict a carrier that was developed by Manville Forest Products Corporation prior to 1981. Although carriers incorporating the design were never commercially produced, prototypes of the design were shown to potential customers without confidentiality restrictions and hence may be considered to be prior art disclosures.
As shown in FIG. 10, the carrier 100 was designed to hold twelve beverage cans. The top panel 102 of the carrier, in which the transverse opening is formed, is relatively short compared to the end panel 104 to which it is connected and, as shown in the drawing, corresponds in length to three can diameters. The handle opening is offset from the center of the panel 102 in order to be located between an outer can and an interior can, thereby allowing room for the user's fingers. The opening is bounded by transverse cut 106, cuts 108 extending from the ends of the cut 106 toward the nearest end panel 104, and fold line 110 connecting the cuts 108 and extending parallel to cut 106. The flap 112 resulting from this arrangement covers the opening until folded down about its fold line 110 by the user. In addition, cuts 114 extend from the ends of transverse cut 106 through the folds 115 connecting the top panel 102 with the side panels 116, terminating in the upper portion of the side panels. The cuts 114 form a slight angle with the cut 106 so that they have a component in the direction of the nearest end panel 104.
As shown in FIG. 11, when a person presses down on the flap 112, it bends down about the fold line 110 between the adjacent beverage cans to create the handle opening through which the fingers extend. When the carrier is lifted in this manner, the panel 102 adjacent the handle opening tends to be lifted up out of its normal plane and is permitted to do so to an extent by the slits 114. The continuation of the slits 114 into the upper portion of the side panels 116 permits the folds 115 adjacent the slits 114 to move slightly inwardly toward each other. These slight movements enable the panels to yield to the stresses created by the lifting process an amount sufficient to prevent tearing.
Although the prior development of Manville Forest Products Corporation provides for some alleviation of lifting stresses, it does so at the expense of other important considerations. Although lifting stresses are minimized by the handle opening being located near a corner of the package, the offset location is not desirable from a customer point of view since the weight of the package is not evenly distributed. It would be much preferable to be able to locate the handle opening in the center of the carrier for ease and convenience of carrying. Further, the handle design is intended for use with relatively heavy paperboard stock which because of its thickness and strength contributes to the resistance against tearing caused by lifting stresses. Such a design would not permit the use of thinner paperboard, which is one of the important objects of this invention.
Another prior art example of a beverage can carrier incorporating a transverse handle opening is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,816, issued to P. J. Wood. In this arrangement a transverse slit extends completely across the top panel of the carrier and down into the side panels, terminating there a short distance from the folds connecting the top panel to the side panels. Two fold lines are provided along a substantial portion of the top panel parallel to and equally spaced from the slit. The fold lines are connected by arcuate slits to form a handle opening initially covered by flaps or tabs hinged at their fold lines. In use, the user's fingers can be inserted into the handle opening from either end, the tab contacted by the underside of the fingers being folded down as the fingers move to grasp the underside of the top panel. At the same time the other tab is bent down out of the way by the outside of the fingers. The handle opening is located in the center of the relatively long top panel of the carrier so that it overlies the space between the two interior cans in the package. The width of the tabs is a function of the size of the cans and also of the distance between the handle opening and the side panel.
The side panels are further provided with short fold lines which extend from the ends of the transverse slit to the fold connecting the top panel to the side panels. It is stated in the Wood patent that lifting of the carton as shown in FIG. 3 of the patent drawing causes an inward bending of the triangular structure defined by the slit 16, the fold line 3 and the fold line 23. This would allow the top panel in the region being grasped by the user's hand to be pulled up out of the normal plane of the top panel as the carrier is lifted. Although this arrangement permits some distribution of the lifting stresses, they still tend to be concentrated more than desired adjacent the ends of the transverse slit, creating the need to follow relatively rigid design parameters and causing the top panel to be pulled up higher and more abruptly than desired.
It would be desirable to provide a carrier having a transverse handle design which would enable a reduction in the caliper of the paperboard without introducing an undesirable degree of flexibility in the carrier handle structure. It would also be desirable to provide a transverse handle opening flap arrangement which does not require the design constraints discussed above in connection with the Wood patent.